SUNY ESF
The Edna Bailey Sussman Fund
This program is not available for 2023-24.
Graduate Environmental Internships
The Edna Bailey Sussman Fund was established in 1984 in New York through a bequest from the estate of Margaret Sussman in memory of her mother, Edna Bailey Sussman. Margaret Sussman was a 1934 graduate of Smith College and a successful artist. Her father, Dr. Otto Sussman, was president and director of American Metal Company, the predecessor of AMAX, Inc. later acquired by Freeport McMoran. Margaret Sussman became interested in environmental issues through explorations of the American west with her father. It is fitting that the Edna Bailey Sussman Fund sponsors research and internships that apply hard science to solving existing environmental problems.
The Edna Bailey Sussman Fund supports self-initiated internships for students matriculated in graduate degree programs at "member" US universities, currently: SUNY ESF, the Colorado School of Mines, Duke University, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego, the University of Michigan, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Yale University, and Clark University. SUNY ESF graduate students benefit tremendously from continuing generosity of the Edna Bailey Sussman Fund. Between 1985 and 2022, 457 SUNY ESF graduate students received more than $2.75 million to pursue internships addressing environmental issues.